


Don a Velvet Glove

by Laryna6



Category: Digimon - All Media Types, Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Wonderswan Series
Genre: For Want of a Nail, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 13:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4668155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laryna6/pseuds/Laryna6
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ichijouji Ken was one of the youngest, sweetest, most pathetic Chosen Children. An adorable child saddened by his best friend's tragic loss, loyally clinging to the hope he yet lived: What hero would not spring to the aid of the Child of Kindness? What fool would ruin so perfect a disguise by giving their new host body an evil makeover?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Masque of Innocence

**Author's Note:**

> Ye gods, these muses! Effing rabid dragons #$^# ...
> 
> I thought I'd combine a couple of different prompts, but then a certain muse went 'why would I possibly want to do what he did in the anime when I could do what I did in the anime instead?'
> 
> This picks up after the third Wonderswan game, when Millenniummon's base blew up with Ryo and V-mon inside it while Chosen Children from all over the world watched and knew that this was the outcome of the Sovereign's plan, a plan that involved all of them being manipulated and lied to.
> 
> I'm not a fan of Ron The Death Eater, but Hanlon's Razor is 'never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by stupidity/ignorance,' and the Four Holy Beasts really do have to know better than this. So either malice or they are just so damn stupid that they are not competent to be given a job as important as keeping the Digital World running, which is… given Adventure and 02, accurate.
> 
> We see what happens to the Digital World when Mugendramon & Millenniummon are ruling it: the Four Holy Beasts are absolutely the lesser of two evils, but the lesser of two evils is still an evil. Mistreat the allies who came to your aid in time of war, and they'll remember it when the war's over. If you can make them forget, in theory that's not a problem, but if you try, fail and they find out about it once the bigger threat's gone...

"They're not what I thought they were." Looking down, for a moment Gennai looked old. Not the way he had when his body really  _was_ old, because the thing Piemon stuck into him damaged his data. No, back then he'd tried his hardest to be some kind of cheerful.

Now his gods had returned, his youth was restored, and here he was in his cottage under the lake with his best friend and one of the Chosen Children who had stayed with him for months.

The other one wasn't here anymore.

"The Digital World needs its gods," Gennai said. "It's still severely damaged. But I can't be glad anymore that the Four Holy Beasts have returned. The Order tried for  _millennia_ to unseal them. The last they were able to contact us was centuries before I was made. All we had were stories of a time when the Digital World was safer. When we were protected, when no one would dare wipe out our Temples one by one…" Until Gennai's was the only one left. "Do you know what they told me? They told me that  _there was no other way_. Right after they told me that I was right, and Ryo's Crest  _was_ Miracles _. There should have been another way_. He could have made it possible. He fought for all of us, he came to fight for  _them_ , and not only treating Ryo like that, but lying to all of the Chosen Children?"

An adult wouldn't talk about things like this with a kid like Ken, but Gennai had never been a child, and even though he understood that the Chosen Children were like In-trainings and Child Digimon, coddling them had never occurred to him.

"But I was right," Ken said, sitting on the wood floor next to the wall with the fish swimming by on the other side of it. "Ryo is still alive. Thank you for telling me, Gennai."

"He's not necessarily alive," his now-young old friend cautioned him. "It was impossible for anyone to survive an explosion like that, but since they confirmed he has the Crest of Miracles, it would have been possible for him.  _Possible_."

"You said he 'has' the Crest of Miracles." Ken grinned, hugging Wormmon in his lap. "So I'm not the only one who knows he's alive anymore! I know that Ryo will come back to us if there's any way he can, so if it's not impossible for him he definitely will."

"I pray-" Gennai closed his eyes. "I hope you're right." He sighed. "They're going to make more of us. I'll have brothers again. More of the weakest beings in the Digital World, when things are still unsettled like this, even with Millenniummon gone. They'll need training, and Piccolomon and I are the only ones who can teach them how to use barriers and the other things they'll need to know to survive and help the Chosen. I wanted to protest their decisions, but I couldn't."

"You have to protect your little brothers," Ken agreed, nodding.

"I know all about remaining quiet to survive," Gennai said, "but that was to survive the Dark Masters. I should be able to trust in the gods. I should have faith that they had a  _reason_ , or I should at least trust them enough to ask what it was." That they would answer his questions instead of rejecting him for heresy. Keep him from contaminating the new clones. "I fear that telling you that your friend may still be alive is all I can do, for any of you. After all that the Chosen Children have done for the Digital World." When he helped call them there. "Instead of asking Taichi's forgiveness, I ask it of the Child of Kindness." So it was cold comfort, when Ken might be saying he hadn't done anything wrong because he forgave him, not because he thought that Gennai was genuinely doing the best he could.

"Millenniummon was a god," Ken said, looking down at Wormmon. "I don't think that being a god makes someone a good guy. There are lots of stories in books about gods doing really evil things, and everyone having to worship them anyway because otherwise the gods would punish them for hubris. Or because they needed the gods to keep making the crops grow and the world work properly, like the Digital World needs the Four Holy Beasts. The Four Holy Beasts lied to everyone and sent Ryo and V-mon to die. I don't think they're very good gods either." He frowned, glaring for a moment. "If Ryo comes back and forgives them, then I will, but until that happens I won't forgive them. They made Ryo watch Digimon die for some stupid  _game_ and now he's gone. You're my friend too, and now they're making you sad and afraid for everyone. I can't forgive people who are cruel like that."

"… _You_ cannot forgive them?" There was sadness in Gennai's eyes, but almost a bit of hope. Like he needed someone to give him permission to feel used.

"Well, they haven't said they're sorry," Ken pointed out. "Did they?"

"They said it was necessary, to bring peace to the Digital World."

"That's not the same as sorry," Piccolomon said. "Out with the old, in with the new. Four megas throwing their weight around, not caring who gets hurt: the Four Holy Beasts are an improvement over the Dark Masters, but the strong have a duty to the weak."

Ken nodded. "I want to help Wormmon, but sometimes I'm glad that my crest doesn't help  _me_ and Wormmon be strong. I don't want Wormmon to have to fight," he hugged him. "And my partner  _has_ to protect me. If other Digimon are helping me, then they're helping me because they think it's the right thing to do."

Gennai nodded. "Ken," he said, standing up, "I want you to have this."

"Oh, what is it?" Wormmon hopped down off Ken's lap so he could stand up to take it from Gennai. "Is this a crest?"

"It's yours," Gennai told him. "The crests channel and store the power of the Chosen, and they also use some of that power to protect their bearers. The Four Holy Beasts … They did not appreciate Taichi's outburst. Within the Digital World, all beings are data, and the gods have the power to alter that data. Your crest will protect you, and Wormmon."

Ken paled, looking horrified. "You really think they'd do something to, to  _Taichi_?" The hero Ken cheered on when he fought Diablomon, the hero Ken had to try to step in for when Millenniummon froze him? Gennai had seen Taichi thanking Ken, telling him that he couldn't have done it better himself. "Controlling people is what evil Digimon do!"

"That was what I believed," said Gennai, and Ken instantly hugged the artificial human. He looked up to see Piccolomon's hand on Gennai's shoulder. "My code is an open book to Azulongmon. I couldn't let them think I agreed with Taichi." When before it was his  _duty_ to support the Chosen Children, his 'old' masters were asking him to betray the only ones he had known. "If they decide to wipe some of my knowledge, that will be knowledge and experience won at great cost."

"If there are little kid artificial humans, they'll need you and Piccolomon," Ken agreed. "It's okay! I'll remember, and wait for Ryo. He's beaten an evil god four times now, he can definitely beat four evil gods! You'll see, he'll show up with some Digimon and say 'Hey!' like he was never gone. I wasn't invited to the Tournament, so the Four Holy Beasts probably think me and Wormmon are too weak to bother about. I'll show them what happens to people who underestimate Wormmon and me just because we're small!"

"Yay!" Wormmon said happily. "I know you can do it, Ken!"

Gennai chuckled, patting him on the head. "You're too kind. They're prioritizing restoring the dimensional barrier, instead of healing the world," Gennai said, solemn again. "My guess is that they want to seal the Digital World off from Earth while they regain their power, so they don't have to deal with the Chosen, or any other humans who could potentially gather an army of Digimon and challenge them. I wanted you and Wormmon to at least have a chance to say goodbye before you were separated."

"I won't be able to see Ken?" Wormmon trembled.

"He can come with me!" Ken said. "He'll hide in my room, and my parents don't pay attention to me so they won't notice I'm eating more!" He frowned. "But what about everyone else's partners?"

" _You_ never had a crest," Gennai told him. "The power comes from the Chosen, not the crest, but it's possible they might learn how to channel their power without a crest, with training. Separating them from their Digimon will atrophy the bond. I would warn Tailmon – she could figure out how to slip them away if anyone could – but Azulongmon asked about Tailmon specifically. He was more concerned about her than Agumon and Gabumon, and they can become Omegamon. Her absence would be noticed."

"But I'm just one more Wormmon, no one notices us. They'll think I'm in some colony with all the other insects, so I can be with Ken!" Wormmon clapped his front feet together.

Ken smiled. "Nobody notices Wormmon, not when we've got megas helping us, but that means they don't notice Wormmon's healing the megas so they can't win! That's what Ryo said when Wormmon told him what Millenniummon said, and he's right: Millenniummon didn't take us seriously, and that was why we could help beat him when even Taichi couldn't! Don't worry, Gennai. We'll be okay until Ryo gets back and we can help you."

"You're very nice, so I'm glad there will be more Gennai," Wormmon said.

"What about Koushiro? Isn't he the Child of Knowledge?"

"The Four Holy Beasts are very old and very wise," Gennai said. Something he'd been taught that wasn't entirely a good thing. Not anymore. "They weren't concerned about him, not the way they were about the Child of Light and Tailmon."

"Well that proves it," Ken said. "Good guys wouldn't be scared of the Child of  _Light_ , right?" He let himself look a little worried for a moment, glancing at Wormmon. "You're not telling us about this so we'll help, are you?" His shoulders slumped. "You want us to not try to help you, except by staying safe."

"You're very loyal to your partner and your friends," Gennai told him. "Taichi has powerful bonds even they would hesitate to tamper with. Not when they can't spare the power. You and Wormmon… If they think about the fact that you trained an army, just like Ryo did…"

"Then we won't be underestimated anymore." Ken nodded. "Don't worry, I know almost as much about not being noticed as Wormmon, and I'll have him with me so we can practice together."

"Keep your head down," Gennai said, tapping him on the top of the head. "Wait for Ryo."

"I will," Ken said, crossing his fingers behind his back where Wormmon and Piccolomon could see.

He saw Piccolomon's smile out of the corner of his eye.

* * *

" _Should you be up this late?"_ he typed, sitting in front of Osamu's computer.

" _It's fine,"_ Wallace typed back. " _You and Koushiro were there for me when Kokomon needed help. I paid Koushiro back in advance,_ " helping during the battle with Diablomon, some highly illegal assistance,  _"but I still owe you_.  _I can't really ever repay you, either of you, but I still want to do_ something _._ "

Ken smiled. " _I guess I can't talk when I should be at school."_

" _You aren't going to get in trouble, are you? I can finish this solo."_

" _No, that's what's great about my parents not paying attention to me. As long as I keep my exam scores up so Osamu doesn't get mad and stop running interference for me, I could probably get away with murder."_

Another message:  _"Can't miss soccer practice, though."_

The first response was a laugh, the second " _Cocomon and Terriermon are threatening to bounce on the keyboard if I don't say Hi to Wormmon for them."_

"Hey, Wormmon?" Ken nudged his partner, who was holding up a cookbook almost big enough for him to hide behind.

"Oh? What is it, Ken?" Wormmon asked, lowering the book to look up at him from next to Ken's screen.

"Cocomon and Terriermon say hi."

Wormmon smiled, so happy to be remembered. "Hello! Is Cocomon still okay?"

" _Wormmon says Hello back, and wants to know if Cocomon is still doing ok."_

" _Judging from his appetite, he's never been better. I think he'll be able to stay Lopmon most of the time again soon."_

" _That's a relief."_ Ken smiled. "He's almost back to child stage, Wormmon."

"That's wonderful!"

" _That's wonderful!"_ Ken typed, then paused. " _Actually… my brother's got an interview again. It'd be nice to be there when he gets out of it, and we could get Wormmon some ice cream on the way back."_

" _Ugh, your parents… If mine were like them, Cocomon and Terriermon would probably be sideshow attractions by now."_

" _I know, what if the Digivice was Osamu's? Genius_ and _destined hero like you and Koushiro? You guys have great parents, but Osamu would_ never  _get a break!"_ Ken rolled his eyes. " _Not unless he ran away to the Digital World!"_

" _Hey, you know that if you need a place you can run away to… I can whip you up all the ID you want, and this entire state has fewer people in it than most cities! There's plenty of space for even Cherubimon to run around!"_

" _I don't know if I should tell Osamu you offered, Wallace, he may take you up on it. Aaaand… Complied!"_ Ken grinned as the ding sounded. He'd set it to the same as the oven going off, since Wormmon liked cooking.

" _Send it over to me so I can go over it, and get going!"_ Wallace told him.

" _I'll need a minute to upload it, even with your fancy military satellite connection. Not all of us get top of the line every three months, you know."_ Ken added a symbol so Wallace knew he was joking.

" _I know, I know, lazy to not build my own systems anymore, but it's recycling!"_

When  _that_ was done, Ken scooped Wormmon up in his arms. "How do you feel about ice cream?"

"Ice cream?"

He really did love Wormmon's smile. The Digimon loved Ken so much, and when love was power, it really took a fool to underestimate them, didn't it?

Ken smiled back. "We're going to go surprise Sam."

"Oh, that's good," Wormmon said. "He used to look so tired all the time, but now he's much less cranky."

Ken shook his head. "They weren't even giving him time to sleep…" When what they valued was the attention his brain got them, and how was he supposed to think when he couldn't sleep?

* * *

When he got to the top of the station, he waved. "Oh, hello, Mr. Ishida! But if you're here with Wizardmon, who's interviewing Osamu?"

"I'm out early," Osamu said, leaning out from behind the Digimon's ghost.

Ken and Wormmon both perked up. "Really!"

Sam nodded. "Really. Mr. Ishida is a miracle worker."

"It's not really that much," he said, embarrassed. "If it was my son… They are doing what they think is best for you. They're right that your future is set as long as you keep this up, but if they push you too hard, then you won't be able to keep it up. All I did was give them some of the scoop from an expose we're going to do on Idol burnout and introduce them to the reporter who's doing the study."

"Doctors recommend nine hours of sleep at my age for optimal brain function," Osamu said longingly. "Nine hours."

"It gets a little hard to be a genius in a live interview when you're too tired to think. I just wish there was more I could do," Matt's dad said, looking embarrassed. "Sorry about that."

"About trying to make me give wrong answers? It was a practice interview, and they're actually  _listening_ ," Osamu said. "Thank you  _so_ much, Mr. Ishida."

* * *

Huh. He hadn't even heard himself scream. Weren't your last moments supposed to be long enough to replay your entire life? He hadn't even had time to notice the sound forced out of him.

Or maybe this was the 'before death,' his mind trying to rewind, find a way out of this where he didn't die, but it was too late. The car had already hit him.

It wasn't until the scream stopped drowning everything else out that he could hear the squeal of the tires, Ken's voice shouting his name, still backwards like everything else.

Then the car was no longer touching him and he heard, "Osamu!"

He flinched, because if time had started moving forward again, the car was about to hit him again, he'd feel it  _all over again_!

"Osamu, run! I can't hold this forever!" his brother begged him, and he looked up to see Ken holding out his Digivice, desperation on his face.

Osamu  _ran_ for the curb.

The sound of cars resumed. His brother toppled over into his arms.

* * *

He awoke lying in bed, with a cold cloth on his head. He could hear someone wringing out water right next to him. "Wormmon?" he murmured, sounding too weak to speak.

"Are you alright, Ken?" Wormmon asked him.

Ken nodded carefully.

"Oh thank goodness, your brother said he'd call the hospital if you didn't wake up soon, and I couldn't be there to take care of you."

"My brother.” Right. “Is Osamu okay?"

"He's fine. I'll go get him."

Ken heard Wormmon jump off the side of the bed and scurry away on his little legs. It made him smile.

Osamu came running. "You really saved me, Ken," he said first thing, so his little brother could breathe out a sigh of relief.

"If the bad guy… got to do it…" He closed his eyes. "Not fair otherwise… Can you tell Wallace…"

"Is that what you've been working on with Wallace?" Osamu asked, and Ken could hear that his brother was glaring down at him. "If a few seconds did this to you, there's no  _way_ I'm letting you…" He sighed with relief when Ken shook his head.

"I could figure that out too. Even with the power in the Crest, there's no way to go all the way back to when Ryo went to fight him. The same thing works with dimensions, though, or that's what we're trying to do, and now I don't think I can power the experiments we were going to do so everyone else could get back to the Digital World and see their friends again. I hope they don't have to wait for the crest to glow again."

* * *

"…I don't think we're in Wyoming anymore, Terriermon," Wallace said, looking out at the night-covered sea, the lighthouse in the distance. He was perched on Cherubimon's shoulder, with Terriermon perched on  _his_ shoulder as he floated in the air around the sand.

Koushiro had already set up his laptop and all the equipment in one of Cherubimon's hands. "I think I heard about something like this. I could get better readings if-"

"I'm not lowering the shield bubble," Cherubimon said flatly. "This place… it smells like the darkness that infected me."

"Right." Terriermon nodded.

"Well, if that's true we did get to another dimension, and not a random one but one connected to Cherubimon!" Ken said to cheer them up. "We can definitely get to the Digital World next time."

Terriermon shrugged. "We've never been to the Digital World. All I know about it is that it didn't have Wallace in it, but if  _Wallace_ was stuck in another dimension…"

"You reunited me with Wallace," Cherubimon said. "We'll find Tentomon, never fear."

"Thank you," Koushiro said quietly, then, determinedly, "Prodigious! This dimension is also in contact with the Digital World, not just our world! I think we can get enough data to triangulate!"

* * *

"Did Gennai give you all of this?" Koushiro asked, still scrolling through the pages. "I haven't been able to get in contact with him."

"You can't tell anyone," Ken said, alarmed. "That way… that way Gennai is safe. I hope. He's safer if you give up trying to contact him. I'm only showing you something that came from him so you'd believe me."

The Child of Knowledge looked up at him, worried. "Gennai's in danger?"

"You don't remember," Ken said, clutching his partner tight. "No one remembers except me and Wormmon. Um… Do you guys remember fighting Apocalymon?" he asked.

"It would be hard to forget that… Under normal circumstances." Koushiro frowned at him. "I'm aware there are methods of inducing amnesia in the Digital World."

"Remember Diablomon?"

"Yes."

"Do you remember where Diablomon came from?"

"I assumed he was a virus, but a virus that could Digivolve… how did he get from the Digital World to the internet?" Koushiro frowned.

"Gods can mess with people's coding. Apocalymon wasn't the only god: Ryo fought one, and I helped him once. I wasn't allowed to help him the last time… The Sovereign wanted to kill another God, and they also wanted to see if the Chosen Children would commit heresy by planning to attack the Four Holy Beasts. So they lied to us, told us that one of them wasn't evil, so that everyone would lie to Ryo not knowing it was a lie, and… And Ryo didn't come back, and Gennai summoned me to give me my Crest and Wormmon and stay out of the Digital World," Ken told him. "The other evil god could do a lot of really scary things. The Four Holy Beasts… Gennai didn't know!" he insisted. "The Dark Masters sealed them away ages ago, he didn't know they were bad guys! He has to pretend he still worships him, because they can control him really easily. I don't know what's happened to him since then…"

"The Digimon Sovereign?"

"Gennai used your crests to unseal them, but instead of using that power to fix the Digital World, he figured out that they were going to seal the worlds away so no one could get in to help the Digimon, and make everyone forget when they made everyone fight each other and made Ryo watch Digimon die and…" His breath hitched. "Ryo's not dead!" He wiped at his eyes with his arm and looked back up to meet Koushiro's, insisting, "He's not dead!"

"Ryo is the person you went to the Digital World with...that's why it was so important to you to get back to the Digital World, and find Wallace's missing partner," Koushiro realized. "You think your friend is trapped in the Digital World with our partners?"

"I don't know where he ended up, or when, but in order to find out I have to get back to the Digital World. To help Gennai, I have to get to the Digital World too, but it's all pointless if as soon as Ryo comes back, the Four Holy Beasts kill him  _themselves_ this time and just wipe everyone's memories again. I only escaped because they didn't know that Gennai gave me my crest, and if they find out..."

"This is serious." Koushiro frowned. "The Dark Masters defeated the Four Holy Beasts and we defeated _them_ , but we needed our crests to Digivolve. It may be possible to recreate our crests if we first access the dimension where we fought Apocalymon, and if that's the case..."

"I know you can beat them," Ken said, shaking his head. He had absolute faith they could. " _We_ beat a god, and there were only two of us. You guys are a lot stronger together than Ryo and I were. You have Omegamon, and Tailmon can digivolve into Holydramon, who is just as powerful as they are."

"You know Tailmon's ultimate form?" Koushiro asked, then winced as he realized why that might be true.

Ken nodded. "The Four Holy Beasts aren't as special as they want everyone to think. The problem is that they made it so that the Digital World will fall apart without them. But the Digital World existed before them, and it didn't just fall apart when the Dark Masters sealed them away, so there has to be some other way to preserve the Digital World that doesn't mean abandoning my friends."

* * *

"We really can't take the golden spires down," Koushiro said apologetically. "We've run tests, but we can only reduce the coverage beneath the worst case scenario levels we planned by under five percent. My estimate of how much of the energy they had available to them the Four Holy Beasts put into repairing the digital world instead of simply stabilizing it so it still needed them to continue to function was overly optimistic."

"But if Digimon can't digivolve, then what if Apocalymon returns?" Agumon asked, concerned for the Digimon in the area he protected.

"We picked the areas where the Digital World is strongest and left them outside the field effect, even if we'll have to rotate what areas are covered and uncovered once other areas are repaired, since those areas will degrade slightly." Wallace explained, showing them the patchwork of gold and red on his laptop screen. "What's worse: for a Digimon to have to travel in order to Digivolve, or for the entire Digital World to fall apart?" he asked them.

"Isn't there another way?" Sora asked him.

Ken looked hurt. "We're not doing this to cause trouble for everyone," he said, "but this is the only way we could come up with to keep repairing the Digital World without the Sovereign. Digivolution strains the Digital World, that's why the areas without Golden Spires will start falling apart if we don't change where Digimon go to Digivolve often enough. Once we come up with patches we'll apply them, but we  _had_ to get rid of the Sovereign before they tampered with everyone's minds again, and we couldn't just let the Digital World fall apart!"

Well, they  _could_ , but he'd thrown Ryo into the future of the Digital World, and if that dimension fell apart before his dear partner arrived? He could calculate the new emergence point, but the risk was unacceptable.

As was the risk that Ryo would ask  _questions_ about what happened to bring about the end of the Digital World, even if he would need to be comforted after finding out about the loss of a world he'd come to care about… Hmm, no, finding himself years in the future, separated from all he'd known, with only a handful of people who left who still remembered him would be more than enough to render him vulnerable.

 


	2. Strike Midnight

A dark shaped loomed over him when he opened his eyes. It spoke.

“Ryo?” he heard.

Ryo recognized Ken’s voice, Ken’s rejoicing when all his hard work had paid off, when one of the Digimon that helped him was alright. He blinked, tried to focus tired eyes, and the haze that he’d mistaken for a dark crystal was replaced by someone who _looked_ like Ken. Except he looked a couple of years older than Ryo, instead of younger.

He grinned brightly and Ryo found arms wrapped around him. “I knew you weren’t dead,” the… they said with something close to Ken’s voice. “Thank goodness it was only the future, what if he had you imprisoned in another dimension all this time...” He squeezed Ryo, then pulled back. Ryo let him pull him into a sitting position.  When Ryo didn’t respond, he frowned. “He didn’t… tell me you’re okay, Ryo.”

“I’m… fine,” he said, staring. “…the future?”

“It’s 2004. After they sent you to die, the Four Holy Beasts tampered with everyone else’s memories – Gennai said they’d forget about me, and I knew you weren’t dead, I just knew it.”

“The Four Holy Beasts?”

“They’re sealed away again,” he was reassured. “The Digital World’s been peaceful since then. You won’t have to fight anymore, Ryo.”

Ryo rubbed at his eyes: they’d unfocused again. “I’ve been gone for that long?” he said almost absently. “My parents…” Months in the Digital World, a few days in the human world, then more months passed during the tournament, but this time it had been longer since they’d seen him than since he’d seen them?

“I showed them Wormmon and told them you weren’t dead so they wouldn’t have to think you were gone,” he was promised. “Oh! The Four Holy Beasts locked away V-mon’s egg, but we found him, and Gennai found V-mon’s partner! I… I’m just so glad. I’ve missed you so much.”

He sounded so happy, Ryo thought. Older. Years. Three and a half, maybe even four of them? Was that why he looked and sounded a little different? “MoonMillenniummon said we’d fly through time together,” he said. Was that why he had that same feeling he got when Millenniummon was nearby?

The god’s aura pulled at you, made him seem too… Something that couldn’t, _shouldn’t_ be fought. Tried to make Ryo feel that it was just ludicrous to even think about fighting this person. Was that how Millenniummon caught Digimon, pulled them towards him to kneel at his feet?

Ken said Millenniummon’s aura gave him the urge to run away. It gave Ryo the urge to run away too, but only after he realized the effect it had on him, that something was messing with his _head_ to try to lure him into the monster’s grasp. It was terrifying…

…but because he was one of the Chosen (in theory, even if some of the others had pointed out that when he didn’t have a digivice, or even a partner…) and could fight it, unlike the Digimon the evil god controlled. He could wake up and realize how wrong it was, to be in awe or _something_ of a monster like that. Most Digimon didn’t wake up unless someone purified them with a Digivice.

What was important was that if MoonMillenniummon was here, Ken wasn’t safe. He managed to get to his feet, letting Ken help him up because Ken would feel bad if Ryo didn’t let him help. His heart was pounding, something was screaming at him that _something was wrong_ , something was _very_ wrong, and panic? Panic was beginning to feel like an appropriate response.

Ken clasped Ryo’s hand in his. “Are you alright? Did you get hurt?”

“Are you alright, Ryo?” Wormmon asked, down by Ryo’s feet.

He shook his head. He might have been knocked around, but that wasn’t important now. He didn’t remove his hand from Ken’s, but grasped it with his own in case he had to grab him and try to run.

For a moment he felt safe.

No, not safe. Something was very wrong and he had to keep Ken safe, even if Ken had his partner with him and Ryo didn’t have V-mon, so he’d have to count on Ken to protect him.

So he was safe-something was _wrong_.

That feeling that here was absolute truth, absolute rightness, and he should forget all those petty mortal concerns like _innocent people_ and place himself in the hands of his god… “MoonMillenniummon.”

“He hasn’t been seen since you… Since the mountain blew up. The spires seal the Four Holy Beasts out of the Digital World,” Ken told him. “They should keep out other gods, too. We can scan the other dimensions for him, but as long as you’re near a spire in the Digital World you’re safe, Ryo.”

“Should I call Jou?” Ken asked him, then frowned at himself. “I should have brought Jou, I should have brought V-mon too, he fought beside you longer than I did. He should have been here to see you again as soon as you got here.”

Ryo had called Ken during the D-1 Tournament to hear his voice, as the hairs rose on the back of his neck and he became aware that something was _very wrong_ with the tournament. And those instincts were right, the whole thing was one big… lie. From people he’d thought would never lie to him, like Gennai, Taichi…

He turned back to look at his friend, and those were Ken’s worried eyes, but even if he wanted to tell himself that Ken was just older that _feeling_. Ken was someone who needed to be protected, and while he could see a vulnerable heart in those eyes, the naked fear that Ryo might be hurt this feeling wasn’t… Qinglongmon hadn’t tried to draw him in. Qinglongmon had just been there, an immense weight holding the world in place, making destiny certain. Ryo knew Ken and Wormmon had the potential to be just as powerful as anyone else, but Ken wouldn’t be interested in becoming a god.

That wasn’t what his power was about.

Ken was softness surrounded by strength, because he gavehis strength to others.

This, this was strength lying under softness. Solid metal camouflaged, not a flower in danger of being plucked. Even if what kind of person would take advantage of someone as nice as Ken?

“MoonMillenniummon.”

Moonlight tricked the eye. MoonMillenniummon was a vengeful spirit, and spirits could possess people.

“You’re… not Ken,” he said, dreadful certainty warring with the wish for it not to be true. He wanted it to be wrong, but he should have wanted to protect Ken, not let Ken pull him up and tell him that everything was going to be alright.

He saw confusion he wished was honest. “You don’t… recognize me?”

“Are you Ken?” Ryo asked him. When his former friend just stared at him he said, with a strange calmness. “Tell me that you’re Ken.”

Ryo saw raw fear for his friend instantly replaced by a soft light in those indigo eyes, both arrogant and rueful. “I could never lie to you, Ryo.” Caught, and still he smiled.

Ryo couldn’t move, frozen between the knowledge he needed to move, to get help, and the… horror of Millenniummon’s grasp pulling him towards his _friend_. That poor little kid.

Stolen eyes stared into Ryo’s, and that expression only softened further. “Once again, you destroy all my careful, patient work. Winning everyone’s trust. Making them believe that the Child of _Kindness_ could work programming on my level. _Saving_ some of these vermin. Creating a peaceful world where you could let your guard down, especially in the arms of your dearest friend.”

“And you’re just taking off the mask?” It couldn’t be that easy. This had to be meaningless, or Millenniummon wouldn’t be just letting it happen. Stopping him was always an uphill battle even when he’d just come back to life a handful of days later or even immediately, in a stronger form. He _never_ went down without a fight.

“I’ve worn many masks. A perfectly obedient automaton that would never dream of stealing Apocalymon’s power for myself. An innocent baby Digimon that remembered nothing of their previous lives, no different from the rest of the slimes bouncing around Primary Village. And yet you see through this mask to the core of me.” He laughed fondly. “Only you.”

“What have you done to Ken?”

“He’s right in here, safe and sound,” the violet-eyed boy smiled, pressing a hand to his heart. “He dreams every night, true dreams of a loving partner and being someone everyone can count on for help. I needed to study his emotions in order to mimic them. This mask had to be _flawless._ Everything had to be perfect… but it still wasn’t enough to deceive you,” he chuckled. “No, I should have known that _you_ would recognize me. I knew that you would be drawn to my side, as you always have before, but I thought that youwould think I was another human. A dear friend, one who waited for your return so faithfully. And when we both grew a little older, you would find yourself longing for Ken as I longed for you, never knowing the true reason you were so drawn to me… But you knew in your core, my dear Ryo. I should have known that you would always recognize me, just as you will always come for me.”

“Ken, I’ll find a way to get him out of there,” Ryo promised.

“You’re… not… Ken?”

Wormmon’s partner frowned at Ryo, ready to scold him for being unkind. “Your partner is here, Wormmon. It’s his love for you, his happiness you’ve felt,” he told the rookie, before looking at Ryo again. “Why would you be foolish enough to do this in front of him? I’m disappointed, Ryo.”

“Like you care.”

Tsk tsk. “A single tear from these eyes at your rejection, and he would have had you in a sticky net, kept you from hurting yourself until you came to your senses. Until I line item edited your memory. But I could never lie to you,” Ken purred. “So very reckless of you, Ryo. What did you think would happen when you confronted me? Risking your chance to save your dear friend like that… Perhaps you _were_ still disoriented from your voyage through time? I did say that we would be together, I simply took the long way. Wormmon was a great comfort to me while I awaited you, so I do care.”

He smiled fondly at the insect, and when Ryo snorted answered with a laugh. “I’m as surprised as you are. It’s something akin to how humans care for favored stuffed animals, I believe. They play at having friends, and their joy at those imaginings becomes associated with their little toys. Playing dear partners with him dulled the edge of my loneliness even as it whetted my appetite for you, my dear Ryo,” the not-Ken purred, voice savoring every syllable.

“Leave him alone!”

The _fake_ held out his hand to Ryo. “Why do you want him to wake up? He will dream a beautiful dream, of having a partner. Of being loved by you.”

Ryo reached in his pocket, but the digivice that belonged to V-mon’s partner was gone.

“I saved his brother’s life,” Millenniummon said. “I saved _your_ life. I gave him everything he wanted in life, fulfilled his every wish. Do you think it a kindness to return him to the real world, let him watch his As become Cs, leave him thinking that his friends only admired _me_ , never him, even if what they admired was the mask I crafted in his image, my mimic of his kindness?”

“And why did he never get the chance to learn that more people than just me would like him for who he is?” Ryo demanded. “You took his chances, you stole his life!”

“Sticky net!” Wormmon cried, enraged.

The attack _hit_ , and Wormmon’s tackle even knocked the evil god’s stolen body to the ground, leaving Ken’s partner victorious on top of his chest. “I’m so sorry, Ken,” he said, sobbing. “I’m so sorry…”

Millenniummon laughed, and it would have been kind if _kindness_ wasn’t twisting the knife. “Blaming yourself is ridiculous, little rookie. It was impossible for you. The two of you never had a chance against me. Soft little lambs to the slaughter. It took a miracle for you to survive… So I knew that you and your partner had the favor of the power of Miracles.”

“Don’t… Don’t look like Ken.” So _kind_ , despite the words coming out of his mouth. When Wormmon was used to being looked down on, a weak little virus, a pathetic creature, but precious to Ken because he was Ken’s _partner_.

“Oh, don’t cry. Ken was always by your side, so how were you to know when even he didn’t?” Millenniummon made a face with his stolen one. “This is why I never dropped that mask, I can’t do comforting without it. You know how to tend to the inferior Digimon you allow to fight for you: do something about this mewling child, Ryo.”

Ryo knelt down next to his enemy to comfort his friend. “You caught him, Wormmon. It’s going to be okay. We’ll find Gennai and there has to be _someone_ who can help.” Unless Millenniummon had killed them all.

Millenniummon was smiling at him, looking approving and appreciative as Ryo gathered Wormmon to his chest and Ryo wanted to slug him. Except that would be punching _Ken_. “Do you know where he keeps his digivice?” Ryo asked the crying Digimon in his arms, squeezing him gently.

Not his. _Ken’s_ digivice. Could he use it to free Ken?

“He has his terminal, I know how to use it to call Koushiro and Wallace,” Wormmon said, sniffles decreasing as he got ahold of himself.

“There,” Ryo said. “That’s the Wormmon I know.” They called him the weakest rookie in the Digital World, and he hadn’t had a chance to reach Champion because other Digimon benefitted from Ken’s power too much for Wormmon to need to act as a last line of defense, but like _hell_ he was letting anyone hurt his partner.

“All tied up…” Not that a rookie’s power could hold the master of space-time for an instant longer than Millenniummon let it. A bit of web wasn’t going to confine a bodiless Digimon. “A pity you’re still so young. I found the most interesting things humans do with each other while I was studying the internet to create Diablomon.”

Millenniummon… Millenniummon was planning to seduce him wearing Ken’s body, a mask made from his friend? Not a hollowed-out puppet, but for some reason thinking that Ken would still have been in there just made it worse. Ryo might have _done things to Ken_ , let Millenniummon use him like that, and he had to press his hand over his mouth and fight to not throw up. “Get out of there,” he said, not sure if he was demanding or pleading, as soon as he could get the words out without feeling like he’d be sick.

The evil god ignored him. He might have dropped the mask, but how was Ryo going to force him to surrender such a good hostage? “Do you remember the last time we saw each other? Only a moment ago for you, of course. I woke up after the last time you defeated me to find you already there. No opportunity to plan any proper welcome.” Such a pity. “Sending you into the future so I would be able to accomplish my plans without you thwarting them seemed an obvious move. Four years seemed like nothing, until I had to spend them hungering for you.”


	3. Breached Defenses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently a petard is a kind of bomb used to blow holes in a fortified building's defenses. 'Hoist with his own petard,' means getting blown into the air by a bomb you set.
> 
> That is marvelously appropriate given Mugendramon and Millenniummon's penchant for explosions (Millenniummon sent Diablomon to nuke the Chosen Children from another dimension).

“I let you manipulate me into betraying the Four Holy Beasts.”

It Ryo a moment to recognize the Jedi as _Gennai_. Did Artificial Humans age backwards? It might have been that long in the Digital World.

“Oh no. They betrayed you. Qinglongmon had the key to your kind’s back-up data. He could have restored the files of your brothers, but instead they wanted innocents. More children to use and finally discard. The Holy Beasts’ desire to make everyone forget that just _anyone_ could become a god greater than them was so very _convenient_ for me. If they were fit custodians of the Digital World, I wouldn’t have had to risk jogging anyone’s memory. They were secure in their self-righteousness, so they would have continued to abuse their power and those who fought for them, and in time the Chosen Children, _Ryo_ would have had to go to war against them. Other Digimon would have had the chance to fight for him once again.” Something clattered to the ground behind Ken’s body, where Ryo had tied his hands. “And now _you_ have the key.”

“I won’t accept anything from the Digimon who brought Piemon down upon us!”

“Go ahead: revive them with your own skill, if you can. But you would never have known it was possible if not for me.” That smile should have been fanged. “Make no mistake: this is no attempt to buy your forgiveness for their slaughter. I. Don’t. Care.” Millenniummon said as if to a child, and for _Ken_ to speak to Gennai like that… “I was fighting a war and your kind were on the wrong side: humans feel no guilt when they spray for termites. This, and the mask I set on your files so scans for heretical thoughts would come up clean, are to settle an entirely different account,” Millenniummon said, turning away from Gennai to glance at Ryo.

Gennai looked at Ryo, but turned away, ashamed. Ryo wanted to tell him that he didn’t have anything to apologize for, but seeing even Gennai unable to look at him? It drove home that none of the others but Wormmon were going to recognize him.

That no one was going to welcome him home, welcome him here, when he came and the person they thought was their friend vanished.

The others gathered: the original Eight, an American with two Digimon that Koushiro pulled into a hurried consultation along with Ken’s brother and a girl who looked about Ken’s age. He saw them sizing him up: right, he was a complete unknown to them, as far as they knew.

There wasn’t anything Ryo could say, and no one he could say it to.

V-mon sat next to Wormmon, with a hand on his old friend’s shoulder as V-mon’s partner glared daggers at Millenniummon for upsetting his partner’s friend. The youngest Chosen who showed up was around Ryo’s age, and carried a bokken like he wanted to be breaking bones with it.

Millenniummon knew that he had a hostage, and they knew it. He ignored them whenever Ryo was in sight, looking at him like he was appreciating the view.

“Was Ken the reason you saved me?” Osamu asked.

“You were a valuable part of my cover. You were the only person who knew Ken better than Ryo, and living under the same roof, you would be the first to detect anything suspicious… And I could have erased your memories after interrogating you to find out where the flaw in my mask was. Keeping Ken’s memories a day behind mine and observing his reactions was more than enough to fool all of you, but I didn’t accomplish all that I have by relying on only a single stratagem.”

“The spires block Digivolution so that even if we figured it out, all you had to do was retreat to the Digital World and we couldn’t fight you!” Taichi threw his hands up. “I thought it was just that you didn’t really care about helping Koushiro fix that because Wormmon couldn’t digivolve and you didn’t like other Digimon looking down on him!”

Bored contempt was an expression that didn’t belong on Ken’s face. “The spires block Digivolution so the dark Digimon pretending to be harmless innocents don’t have an opportunity to regain their power and damage my props.”

Props?

The Chosen Children. The stage he’d set for Ryo’s arrival.

“I wouldn’t be so cocky,” Yamato said, backing up Taichi. “If you were Mugendramon…”

“Then you couldn’t defeat me without a god intervening to save you… and I am the only god here to heed your prayers.” This laugh was mocking. “I’m the only Ken you remember. Your father invited me to dinner just last week. Is this all your gratitude for the tech support is worth, Child of Friendship? Run off with your tail between your legs, the way you did when Ryo first faced me to save you pathetic little brats.”

“I think he’s mad because you’re blocking his view of Ryo,” Patamon said, hovering behind MIllenniummon’s head to peer around it.

Taichi jerked, startled. Looked to where Tailmon was standing in front of Hikari. Eyes wide, he stared down at Ken.

“You?” Millenniummon wondered, a little disgusted.

“Oh, don’t tell me,” Taichi groaned. “I’m right, aren’t I. _That’s_ what this is about?” He groaned again. “And I thought one of Vamdemon’s minions stalking my sister with binoculars was creepy!”

“ _That’s_ what all this was about?” Mimi demanded. “Possessing Ken, tricking everyone: you couldn’t just _tell_ us? I forgave Tailmon, and _she_ hurt Togemon. _You could have just said_.”

“It is not that simple.”

“Yes it is.”

“Only for you, Child of Purity.”

“And you’re supposed to be some kind of genius,” Mimi accused him. “You know, I bet all the brains in there _are_ Ken’s, because you’re certainly not helping any. Since you were acting like him, then clearly _Ken_ understood ‘asking people for help’ and ‘not being a jerk to people you want to like you.’”

“They’re partners?” Yamato asked, the penny dropping. “I mean, I knew Ken had a crush on Ryo…”

“He did?” Osamu asked.

“It was… kind of obvious from all the pining and insisting he had to come back someday?”

“Remember how you kept telling me when I was ignoring how upset people were?” Taichi asked Yamato. “Not everyone is as good at picking up on other people’s feelings as you are _._ Wow, I can’t believe _I_ was the first to figure out they were partners.”

“You’re really just shooting yourself in the foot,” Mimi told Millenniummon, shaking her finger in front of his face. “I know how lonely Palmon was without me, but you didn’t have to possess someone to borrow their partner, even if Wormmon _is_ absolutely adorable. You have to be _honest_ about your feelings.”

“Yes, Child of Purity. My inability to lie to my partner is _such_ an advantage. It didn’t just ruin years of work and earn me my partner’s disgust. Get out of my face before your face becomes that of a centenarian.”

“Oh for goodness’ sake, it’s like you _want_ Ryo to hate you.”

“If he hates me, then he will come find me.”

“And from what I hear, when he found you he’d kick your butt.” Mimi gave him a skeptical look. “Hmm, no, I don’t think you’re a masochist.”

Jou sputtered.

“No,” she decided. “You’re not a masochist, and if Ryo liked hurting people you’d have a black eye by now, since you’re trying so hard to ask for one.”

“I am not interested in relationship therapy from someone who has never experienced conflicting desires for more than a picosecond.”

“Well, clearly you need it,” Mimi pointed out. “You’re obviously not getting anywhere on your own, and if you think ridiculous schemes are going to going to do anything but creep people out! You’re still here, aren’t you?” She nodded. “We all know you wouldn’t be so casual if you couldn’t get out of here before we could actually lock you away from Ryo, so I choose to take the fact you’re still here as a cry for help.” She leaned forward to look him in stolen indigo eyes. “You need to get out of Ken,” she told him. “Every second you’re in there is hurting Ryo, and I know you can’t _want_ to hurt your partner.”

His eyes narrowed, watching her, but he said nothing.

“Oh,” she realized. “While you’re in Ken’s body, Ryo is looking at you. He can’t stop thinking about you, because he has to help his friend.” She patted him on the shoulder. “You’re his _partner._ I promise you that he’ll never forget about you. You don’t have to be his archnemesis for him to keep thinking about you, and wondering what you’re doing. I know that if you called him to the Digital World, he’d come, just like I would for Palmon.”

He looked down for a moment, and if Ryo didn’t know better he might have taken it for avoidance instead of plotting.

Mimi nodded and patted him on the shoulder again: did she really think the evil god was in need of consoling? Right, Ryo realized, she really didn’t remember what he was like, not as Millenniummon anyway. The other Chosen had said something about how Millenniummon had used different tactics when he was Mugendramon because his plans were different, so Ryo had no idea what Mimi remembered experiencing when she fought this guy.

“You _are_ like Tailmon. She searched, and Kari didn’t come, but that was because Kari didn’t _know_ , otherwise she absolutely would have. We both know that you wouldn’t really have been happy if Ryo forgot about you and only loved you as long as you pretended to be someone else. That’s not loving you, that’s loving Ken. So,” she said, raising a finger. “You can have one hug, if you promise to leave Ken’s body after Ryo hugs you. Then you really should give everyone a couple of weeks to cool down and be sure that Ken is okay, and _then_ you can bother Ryo again. If you’re so convinced that Ryo won’t come to see you, then I _suppose_ you can take someone hostage, as long as they don’t get hurt and don’t end up missing exams or anything like that.”

“Mimi, are you advocating kidnapping?”

“Well, he is a villain, of course he was going to think of it anyway if _I_ could,” she informed Jou. “But I don’t think Ryo will be very impressed or happy if you do that. Well? That was what you wanted out of today, wasn’t it? For your partner to hug you? Even if he wasn’t glad to see you, he _will_ be glad when you’re out of Ken, so there’s that too.”

Rapid calculations flashed behind stolen eyes. Millenniummon smile was vicious. "How ridiculous, but this compulsion is ridiculous. You're correct, that  _would_ make it  _shut up_." That expression of barely restrained fury did not belong on Ken's face. There only a moment, and then he smiled again, assessing Mimi. "Long enough for me to act counter to the pull towards Ryo. And I'd already decided to kill you first because your power might have damaged my deception... How interesting that the Child of Purity, whose power allows her to dispel programs, allows the compulsion to control her like the rest of you puppets. If I could risk interacting with you, I should have asked  _you_ for data, when you might have been able to detect your partner bond infringing on your free will..." He considered a moment, but only a moment, ignoring the others looking around to see if any of them know what he was talking about or how worried they should be. "Not a technical hug that only lasts an instant. He has to hold me until I am able to withdraw." “Yes, but _only_ a hug. No funny business.”

“I am not a fool.”

She tapped her foot impatiently. “Well, you could have fooled me.”

"For a human still in their child evolution to experience certain adult-state activities  _harms_  them. If I was able to harm Ryo?"

"Yes, yes, you'd have blown us up already."

"Oh no. As Millenniummon I captured you for test subjects. Most of you would have been tested to destruction by now, certainly.  _You_  might still be alive, depending on whether or not I'd managed to crack your ability to dispel mind control yet. Since it hasn't freed you from your partner bond, it's clearly deeply flawed..." 

“Doesn’t Ryo get a say in this?” Jou asked.

“Well, Miyako said she and the other brainiacs don’t have any better ideas,” Mimi said, gesturing at the other girl with oddly-colored hair, “and I assume we all want Millenniummon out of Ken sometime today.” So unless someone else had any better ideas, this was the most efficient way to deal with this.

“What about not negotiating with terrorists?”

“He’s not _threatening_ Ken, thank goodness. If he was stupid enough to threaten Ken when this entire big elaborate scheme of his hinged on Ryo caring about Ken, then there really would be no help for him. But I simply refuse to believe that someone who supposedly beat all of _us_ could possibly be that stupid.”

Ryo drew in a breath. “I’ll do it,” he said, forcing the first words past his lips since Gennai got here.

Millenniummon’s hands were still tied behind his back, which made it a little easier. Ryo didn’t want him to be allowed to stand up, so he crouched down next to him.

It was easier than he’d thought: there wasn’t any tough hide or cold aura of power to remind him of Millenniummon.

_Safe_ he felt himself register when a still-thin chest pressed against his.

His _partner_.

So that was why.

He stiffened a bit when Ken’s stolen face was pressed against his neck, but that mouth didn’t open. Ryo felt him draw in a slow breath, shudder, and let it out. Another breath, and this time the body in his arms seemed to relax, deflate, and he wanted to believe that it really was because something was leaving it.

Then it stiffened. “Huh?” Ken said, and shook himself awake. “Ryo!” he exclaimed when he saw who was holding him, and Ryo found himself hugged again.

What Ken said… some of it was a little too similar to what Millenniummon had said with his lips, even with the shock, but it was awhile before Ken stopped focusing on Ryo to ask if he’d missed something, because he hadn’t planned to ask anyone else to be there in case his calculations were wrong and he’d just gotten everyone’s hopes up.

* * *

His arms wrapped around the partner sitting his lap, Wormmon’s face pressed against his chest, Ken said, “They… seem like my memories.” Ken was still wide-eyed and clearly having a hard time getting over the fact that he was having this conversation. “But four years… That’s a lot of my life. Maybe it’s just been so long that I’ve forgotten what I was like before, enough I just can’t tell the difference between how _I_ would act and how he would act pretending to be me.”

“He said that he was letting you have your own emotions about the memories so he could study them to imitate you,” Ryo said. “He said that you were dreaming a beautiful dream, and that he kept your memories a day behind his.”

“Well, that’s a relief, that probably the things I think are my thoughts are mine… I _think_ I still remember how to do everything I learned how to do since I went to the Digital World for the first time, even if I guess I wasn’t the one who learned those things…” He was silent for a moment, just stunned, before he pulled himself together to say. “Well, if _I_ can’t tell the difference, Wormmon, then you really can’t blame yourself for not knowing, okay?”

“Uh…” Daisuke said, and looked at Taichi and Yamato before deciding to say nothing.

“What is it, Daisuke?” Ken asked.

Cheeks red, Daisuke practically squeaked “Nothing!” and grabbed V-mon to run for it.

“What was that all about?” Taichi asked.

Yamato and Sora looked at him, then at each other. “Our fearless leader.” Yamato said.

“I think he was acting like how Ken would be _if_ he liked Ryo,” Sora took pity on Taichi to say. “But Ken isn’t Ryo’s partner.”

“But Wormmon, what about _you_?” Ken asked his partner, and now he let himself look a little frightened instead of just incredulous. Or maybe it was just that Ken was Ken, and while realizing he’d been possessed by Millenniummon was shocking, realizing that _Wormmon had spent years in Millenniummon’s hands_ was terrifying. “I, I _remember_ being, I mean I remember him being nice to you, but…”

The little bug shook his head. “He was nice to me. Was that all it took to trick me? I really am pathetic.”

“Oh Wormmon… You wouldn’t mistake V-mon for me, right? Or Daisuke, or Ryo, or Gennai, or Terriermon and Lopmon…”

It was a relief to hear that lots of people were nice to Wormmon these days. Then again, “He said he used Wormmon to practice, or pretend that he had a partner who loved him the way Wormmon loves you,” Ryo told Ken. “Millenniummon didn’t care that much about his tools when we fought him, but that was because there were more where that came from.” If he wanted a particular tool, he’d just bring them back to life with full memories the way he had Vamdemon and those others the first time Ryo fought him.

“Right, he wouldn’t let Wormmon get hurt, not when he was practicing for his partner.” Ken let out a sigh of relief. “If he was being so…” He searched for a word and gave up. “If he took so many precautions and did such a good making sure he could keep pretending to be me, then there’s no way he wouldn’t have been flawless with you, Wormmon, not when he was pretending you were _his partner_. That’s a relief,” Ken held Wormmon tighter. “I remember what he thought about _us_ , so it’s hard to believe that when he was pretending to me he pretended to be that smart. I guess he just wanted to be a less embarrassing version of me. Thought his partner deserved someone better than someone who got taken over and didn’t even _notice_.”

Ryo closed his eyes, bowing his head and tightening his fists.

“Ryo, you can’t blame yourself for this,” Ken said.

_It happened to you because of me_ , Ryo knew he should say, but words seemed more daunting right now than any battle ever had. Maybe it was because no matter what he said he couldn’t win this, couldn’t make it right.


End file.
